CCARE Personnel

Director and Founder, CCARE Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University

James R. Doty, MD, is a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He works with scientists from a number of disciplines examining the neural bases for compassion and altruism.

Dr. Doty attended U.C. Irvine as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed neurosurgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Doty served 9 years on active duty in the U.S Army attaining the rank of major. He completed fellowships in pediatric neurosurgery and electroneurophysiology.

He is an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He holds multiple patents and is the former CEO of Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ). Dr. Doty has given support to a number of charitable organizations supporting peace initiatives and providing healthcare throughout the world. Additionally, he has supported research, provided scholarships and endowed chairs at multiple universities.

He is a consultant to medical device companies and is an operating partner and advisor to venture capital firms. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of a number of non-profits and is the vice-chair of the Charter for Compassion International and the former chair of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He is on the Senior Advisory Board of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of Governors of Tulane University School of Medicine and the President’s Council at Tulane University.

Emma Seppala, Ph.D. is Science Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. Her areas of research include positive organizational psychology, health psychology, and cultural psychology. In particular her research has focused on well-being, compassion, social connection and mind-body practices. She is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, and Scientific American Mind. She also consults with Fortune 500 leaders and employees on building a positive organization and is the author of an upcoming book on the science of success, The Happiness Track, published by HarperOne (January 2016). She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Fulfillment Daily, a news site dedicated to the science of happiness. Dr. Seppala’s research has been cited in numerous television and news outlets including ABC News and The New York Times and she is quoted in books such as Congressman Tim Ryan’s Mindful Nation. Her research on mind-body practices for military veterans with trauma was highlighted in a documentary called Free the Mind by award-winning filmmaker Phie Ambo. She is the recipient of a number of research grants and service awards including the James W. Lyons Award from Stanford University, where she helped found Stanford’s first academic class on the psychology of happiness and taught many well-being programs for Stanford students. Dr. Seppala received a B.A in Comparative Literature from Yale University, a Master’s Degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. She completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Dr. Richard Davidson. Originally from Paris, France, she speaks five languages: French, English, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Outside of her experiences in the US, she has worked in France and China. For more, see her website.

Research Scientist Organizational Psychologist and Founder and CEO of EnlivenWork

Monica Worline, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist and founder and CEO of EnlivenWork, an innovation organization that teaches businesses and others how to tap into courageous thinking, compassionate leadership, and the curiosity to bring their best work to life. Monica is an award-winning teacher and an interdisciplinary scholar who has served on the faculty of Goizueta Business School at Emory University and on the faculties of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine and the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology. Monica’s writing has been featured in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, the Chicago Tribune, and BizEd Magazine and her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly and Organization Science. She authored the book Awakening Compassion at Work and is a founding member of the CompassionLab, the world’s leading research collaboratory focused on compassion at work. Monica completed her doctoral work in organizational psychology at the University of Michigan and is a member of the Positive Organizational Scholarship community housed in the Ross School of Business. She earned her B.A. with distinction and honors at Stanford University, where her emphasis on humanities continues to provide a strong foundation for her unique blend of critical thinking and creativity.

Dong Nguyen

Research and Administrative Associate, CCARE

Dong received both her B.A. in Psychology and her M.A. in Experimental Psychology at San Jose State University. She is a former Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) as well as McNair scholar working in the Stress and Aging Laboratory within the Psychology Department. She became Lab Manager when the lab transitioned from rodent research to humans, renamed the International Neuroeconomics Institute (INI). Dong’s research interests focused on the various effects of both physical and psychosocial stress on cognitive performance, taking into consideration variables such as social support, gender, personality, and more. Her wide interests in many disciplines, especially psychology and biology, prompted her search for opportunities in which she is able to expand her knowledge, and at the same time, contribute to science and help people in any way, shape, or form. Her journey has, so far, led her to Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, where she hopes to learn more about the globally expanding science of compassion in every facet of daily life and help the Center achieve its mission to understand the science of compassion and share that knowledge with others.